In 1990, Gunasekera and co-workers at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute reported the isolation of (+)-discodermolide (1), an architecturally novel metabolite of the marine sponge Discodermia dissoluta (0.002% w/w). (See, Gunasekera, et al., J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55, 4912. Correction: J. Org. Chem. 1991, 56, 1346).

Initial studies revealed that (+)-discodermolide suppresses both the two-way mixed-lymphocyte reaction and the concanavalin A-induced mitogenesis of murine splenocytes in vitro with no associated cytotoxicity. Moreover, (+)-1 suppresses the in vivo graft-vs.-host splenomegaly response induced by injection of parental splenocytes into F1 recipient mice, with potency intermediate between those of cyclosporin A and FK506. (Longley, et al., Transplantation 1991, 52, 650; Longley, et al., Transplantation 1991, 52, 656; Longley, et al. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1993, 696, 94). These findings stimulated the recent discovery that (+)-1 arrests cell development at the M phase by binding and stabilizing mitotic spindle microtubules; thus discodermolide resembles taxol in its mode of action, but the microtubule binding affinity of 1 is much higher. (ter Haar, et al., Biochemistry 1996, 35, 243; Hung, et al., Chemi. & Biol. 1996, 3, 287). These and other results suggest that (+)-discodermolide holds considerable promise as an anticancer agent. The scarcity of natural material however has precluded a complete evaluation of its biological profile.
The absolute configuration of discodermolide remained undefined until Schreiber et al. synthesized both antipodes of 1. (Nerenberg, et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 12621; Hung, et al., Chem. & Biol. 1994, 1, 67). Interestingly, the unnatural (−) antipode also displays significant immunosuppressant activity.
There is, therefore, a need for improved synthetic methods for the preparation of polyhydroxy, dienyl lactones such as the discodermolides, as well as a need for compounds having similar chemical and/or biological activity.